New Delhi: The French Minister Delegate for Digital Affairs, Jean-Noel Barrot on Wednesday stressed that India plays a leading role in AI by hosting the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Summit.

Barrot is on his second official visit to India to advance bilateral cooperation on digital technology and will also participate in the Ministerial Council of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence Summit here in Delhi.

Further expressing his delight, he said, "I'm very happy to be here. I'm very grateful to India for hosting this summit and agreeing to chair the GPI, the global partnership on AI, next year."

He further emphasised that India and France are going to keep building their relationships and the global agenda as both countries share the same values.

"India plays a leading role in AI by hosting this summit by sharing the global partnership on AI next year. A lot has been achieved during the Indian G20 presidency and so we're going to keep building our relationships, and our global agenda together because we are very much aligned and share the same values," he said.

While answering about the French priorities on GPAI, Barrot told ANI that from the global partnership, they want to boost its ability to develop expertise and to build stronger cooperation amongst its members.

"What we want is for this global partnership that started a couple of years back to strengthen its ability to develop expertise and to build stronger cooperation amongst its members. So the discussions we'll be having during this summit is for the future of GPI to achieve this target," he said.

Underscoring the India-France bilateral relations, Barrot said that both countries have "excellent relationships."

He further recalled that India and France signed a memorandum of understanding when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited France last summer.

He added, "That is going to allow us to further our relationships in the areas of research, in the areas of industrial relationships between Indian champions and European and French champions."

Moreover, Barrot further said that the European Union was among the first democracies to decide to set up a regulation dedicated to AI, adding that there was an agreement reached last week.

"Now we're going to pursue the discussions to strike the right balance between the protection of our citizens and the preservation of the ability of Europe to develop innovation in AI," he said.

Barrot's visit to India comes on the heels of the European Union's landmark agreement on the AI Act, which would make the EU the first democracy in the world to establish a comprehensive set of rules on AI, to foster innovation while ensuring the protection of citizens' rights, according to the release.

Barrot will highlight the GPAI's critical role in international AI governance, the need to mobilise GPAI expertise on pressing issues such as the opportunities and challenges of generative AI, and the path forward.

Barrot will also meet with AI experts and hold bilateral meetings with counterparts from other participating countries during the Summit.

"In the course of this visit, Minister Barrot will also visit the headquarters of the Unique Identification Authority of India, where he will learn more about India's digital public infrastructure and be given a demonstration on India's Aadhaar scheme," according to a release issued by the French Embassy.